Heilegenrode - Holy Clearing

Not what you think - NOT Rome, not a holy city  Just a place in the woods cleared for a holy place.  A convent.

It was time for a little day trip and somehow we have never visited Heiligenrode though it's just a hop, skip and a jump from where we live.

The convent, established in  1182, has long since disappeared - all the nuns from the years it was catholic, all the "church ladies" from when it was protestant. The last died in1965.

I suppose so many of these convents and monasteries were set up in quiet pastoral places so that the religious folks wouldn't be distracted by the sounds of the city.  Regardless, that's were many of them are/were.

There's a nice cluster of old buildings in the center of the old town - most importantly, the water mill.

The funny thing on the right?  That's way for the fish to wander back to their birthplace to spawn again. How they figure that out is beyond me.

You all know we love biking here, and next to the water mill is a filling station for bike tires.  Frankly, I think we could use more of these!

The picture at the beginning is the mill pond.  In the summer there's a grouping of clay figures  standing in the pond.  We'll have to go back later to see them! 

Of course there's a church, quite old,dating from the 13th century.  The towns are smaller these days, fewer folks attend services, fewer still are called to the ministry, so  services are not held ever week and the protestant churches are seldom open outside of worship times.  So, there was no visit to the interior.  That's too bad.

Outside, there were the old gravestones of those long gone.  It would be hard to decipher who and when from these ancient markers.

A bit outside the old town, we walked along the small stream.  I know that looks like a group of dead trunks, but so not dead!  These are willows, severely pruned so that when the new, fresh, tender branches sprout, they can be used for weaving baskets to hold grain, potatoes, whatever was needed on the farm.

These days, they harvest the wood.  No, I have not colored the picture!!! These felled trees were so green from moss and fungus.  How .... colorful!?

A view of the watermill from across the mill pond. Though the day was dry, sadly not too sunny.  But what a reflection!

And after all that work (which included about 20 minutes of driving around just trying to find the place!!!) there was ice cream and coffee, though we still are in warm jackets and scarves.  It's OK- spring is on the way!!